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Phase II Complete: Music in Motion

November 20, 2014 by eassigan
This is the final design of our second game. After playtesting with the initial UI layout, our observations indicated that we needed to make changes in order to stay within our display area constraints and improve the player experience. We decided to change from a square layout to a triangular one in order to keep gameplay elements within the bounds of the display mat in the Elizabeth Forward SMALLab setup. We also added feedback pop-ups that indicate correct, incorrect, or missed notes as a player goes through the game. We added scoring to encourage competition among players, and drive them to perform better in the game, thereby increasing their ability to read notes on a staff as well as their speed at which they sight-read them.

Music in Motion
Posted in: Game Designs Tagged: design, education, game, music, SMALLab

Phase I Complete: Natural Rhythm

October 16, 2014 by eassigan
This is the final design of our first game. Our playtests indicated a positive response to our initial art theme utilizing animals as instruments. We took it further and created a natural environment for our characters to inhabit. We removed the scoring aspect that was present in our initial game design in order to adjust game difficulty for the second graders.

Project Radius
Posted in: Game Designs Tagged: education, game, music, SMALLab

Phase I: Project Radius (Working Title)

October 1, 2014 by eassigan
This is the design we are moving forward with and currently prototyping. In this game, the class is broken up into teams of three. Each team of three players gets a chance to play a song. Once every team has taken a turn, the team with the highest score wins. Each player has a lane in which music note values are streaming towards them. When their wand is raised, they are in their ‘off’ position. When a note reaches their instrument, they must lower it into the ‘on’ position to play the note and sustain the ‘on’ position for the duration of the note. The more precise and correct their note, the more they contribute to their team score.

Project Radius
Posted in: Game Designs Tagged: education, game, music, SMALLab

Music in the Pond

September 29, 2014 by eassigan
Our fourth musical concept directly tackles rhythm. Three simultaneous play-groups would each be given a pond of lotus leaves. A frog hops across the lotus leaves following a particular rhythm. The children hear the rhythm and play it back by retracing their frog’s path. To do so, they aim their wand at each lotus leaf and sustain it for the duration of the note’s value (i.e. eighth, quarter, half, and whole).

Music_in_the_Pond
Posted in: Game Designs Tagged: education, game, music, SMALLab

Musical Melee

September 22, 2014 by eassigan
Our third musical concept sought to invoke the competitive nature of children and incorporate the iPads that the Elizabeth Forward School District provides its students into the gameplay. At its core, this game is a duel. A class would be broken up into 2 teams: one team playing melody and the other playing accompaniment or rhythm/percussion. On their iPads, students would have notes streaming into a keyboard or drum that they could play on. The more notes a team’s players get correct, the harder their push against the opposing team. Harder difficulties would turn a staff that would then force students to interpret notation in order to play rather than just having keys/drums light up when it’s time to hit them.

Musical_Melee_Pt2
Posted in: Game Designs Tagged: education, game, music, SMALLab

Streaming Music

September 19, 2014 by eassigan
Our second concept focuses on interpreting notes on a staff. Three simultaneous players are each given their own staff. Students would be prompted with alphabetical note names, after which they would need to aim their control wand at the note’s corresponding position on the staff. Play zones streaming in from the right side would tell players at what times they need to be in the correct note position on the staff. Teachers could toggle what notes can be displayed, as well as which clef to use, in order to adjust the difficulty of the game as appropriate.

Music_in_Motion_Pt1
Music_in_Motion_Pt2
Music_in_Motion_Pt3
Posted in: Game Designs Tagged: education, game, SMALLab, streaming music

Week 4 Newsletter

September 19, 2014 by eassigan
Hello again everyone! This week, after many discussions with our advisers and faculty, we decided to shift the focus of our project solely toward making a music education game…
Continue reading…
Posted in: News Tagged: design, education, game, music, SMALLab

Week 3 Newsletter

September 12, 2014 by eassigan
Hello again everyone! This week we focused on thoroughly defining and understanding our deliverables for our client, brainstorming and pitching our ideas to our client, and fleshing out the best ideas to prototype…
Continue reading…
Posted in: News Tagged: brainstorm, design, education, feedback, game, math, music, vocabulary

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